When Danielle Smith accepted the leadership of the Wildrose Alliance in 2009, she made sure to praise Calgary oilpatch veteran John Murdoch, the man who lobbied her to seek the job and cheered her on throughout that campaign.

“Through this race he has never hesitated to send a positive word of encouragement,” Smith told party supporters then. “It meant a lot to me to have his support.”

But now, with reports Smith and several other Wildrose MLAs are negotiating to cross the floor of the Alberta legislature and join the governing Tories, Murdoch’s faith has been shattered.

“This is a person that I vouched for and have been vouching for the past several years,” Murdoch said in an interview Tuesday.

“You have a party that is relatively young, has become the most effective opposition in the past 15 years in Alberta … and the government is actually doing things because they’re afraid of the opposition,” he said. “And now they just want to throw in the towel? I don’t understand it.”

On Monday, it was revealed some Wildrose MLAs have pushed for the Opposition caucus to join the PC government. Further, a leaked document promises floor-crossing Wildrosers would be allowed to keep their seats and would get the premier’s endorsement for a PC nomination to run in the next election, slated for the spring of 2016.

Tom Flanagan, the Wildrose’s campaign manager in the 2012 election, said the political manoeuvring bears all the trademarks of “blatant opportunism.”

“It really looks like they’re looking after themselves first rather that thinking of the party,” said Flanagan, a former university professor who once taught Smith as a student at the University of Calgary. “The logic seems to be, ‘Well we were successful as an opposition party and we got the government back on track. Now we can join the government.

“That might make some kind of sense, but in the longer term it leaves Alberta without an effective opposition.”

The unfolding situation follows several defeats and embarrassments suffered by the Wildrose, including four byelection losses this fall and the subsequent defection of MLAs Kerry Towle and Ian Donovan to the Tories.

Murdoch said he became increasingly concerned about the direction of the party after Smith promised at the annual general meeting in Red Deer last month to resign as leader if the Wildrose did not win the next election.

“When you have a leader that says, ‘If I don’t win the next election I’m gone,’ then you had better start seriously planning for succession,” he said.

Tim Dyck, vice-president of policy for the Wildrose, said Smith did not consult with party members about a possible merger and should resign because “she’s made it clear to … our party that she has no interest in being here.”

Dyck said if Smith departs, it would immediately trigger a leadership race.

Wildrose vice-president of fundraising Jeff Callaway said the party would be pressed to find a new leader as soon as possible before an expected spring election.

“We still have a vibrant constituency association base, we’re going to have candidates carrying the Wildrose banner in the next election, we raised $2 to $2.5 million a year,” said Callaway. “A handful of MLAs crossing is not the end of the party.”

Richard Jones, who ran for the party in 2012 and has been renominated as the candidate in Calgary-Acadia, said he had no inkling that Smith was planning this dramatic move when he spoke to her during the party’s recent period of turmoil.

“I know that Kerry Towle going over (to the PCs) was a personal blow to her, but I think if I was in her shoes it wouldn’t entail me going over,” Jones said. “I don’t think she can continue as party leader. I think she’s done.”

Paul Hinman, who led the Wildrose Alliance party, the forerunner of the Wildrose party in 2008-09, said party troubles began about a year ago. Wildrose MLAs have been divided, with some holding true to party values and others willing to shelve them for a chance at forming government, he said.

“This is the worst case of ‘Dome Disease’ that I have seen in my life,” he said, alluding to former premier Ralph Klein’s nickname for political pre-occupation with the legislature over the common concerns of the people. “They are totally out of touch with the grassroots and the party.”

Hinman said the Wildrose would carry on, but feared the party won’t be the same from this day forward.

“We’ve done a bunch of damage regardless of wherever we go,” he said. “We blew the tires off the vehicle — what we have left for a vehicle. Whether we blew the engine along with the tires, or where we’re at, I don’t know. We’ll have to assess that going forward.”

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